Fang's Moods
by Strawberry Shortcake123
Summary: Because I have too much time on my hands, I have analyzed Fang's attitude toward Max in each of the five books. This is a compilation of excerpts from the books that support my claims. Please review and let me know if you agree! Faxness! T for teen book.
1. The Angel Experiment: Protective Fang

**Alright, well… this was just some random idea that came to me while I was laying in bed at 11:30 last night. I don't know how good an idea it is… I mean, it's stuff we've all read before, so… I don't know. I figured it couldn't hurt to go ahead and do it. This will be a five-shot, one chapter for each book; maybe in March, after FANG comes out I'll add another. We'll see.**

**Oh, and I'm sure you've read The Angel Experiment if you're reading Maximum Ride fan fiction, but just in case you haven't, there are major spoilers below. Because, well, this is just a compilation of excerpts from the book.**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson owns everything in this fan fiction. I am merely reposting it to show how Fang was different in all five books of the series. It's an exploration of how his character changes based on the excerpts below.**

**Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment**

**Protective Fang**

"_Man, you weigh a freaking _ton_," he told me. "What've you been eating, _rocks?"

"_Why, is your head missing some?" I croaked. His mouth almost quirked in a smile, and that's when I knew how upset he'd been._

00

"_Suddenly, I stopped dead, as if I'd been poleaxed._

_Fang examined my face. "That pain?" he asked quietly, glancing around as if planning where to take me if I suddenly crumpled._

00

_Fang and I sat with our backs against the wall. I dropped my head into my hands and started rubbing my temples. _

"_You okay?" Fang asked._

"_Yeah," I muttered. "I'll be better tomorrow."_

"_Go to sleep," said Fang. "I'll take first watch."_

00

_Lifting my head, I saw Fang, dark and determined, streaking toward us. He was keeping pace, but he wasn't catching up. If a car was waiting, I was a goner. I struggled as hard as I could, chopping at the Eraser, punching and scratching, and it was infuriating how little effect I had on the beast. Had they been bred to have no pain receptors?_

"Fang!" _I bellowed, seeing him even farther away than he had been. We were outpacing him…._

_Fang roared up and pulled me hard to my feet, starting to drag me away. _

"_Wait!" I said. "Fang-- I think he's dead."_

_Fang looked from me to the Eraser, then nudged him boot against the still form. It didn't move, didn't blink. Still holding my hand, Fang knelt and put his fingers against the Eraser's wrist, wary and alert for movement._

00

_I took a couple deep breaths, feeling the pain ease away. My eyes opened in the dim light of the cathedral. Five very concerned faces were watching me._

"_Can you walk?" Fang asked tersely. I nodded._

00

_I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. It was all too much. If I couldn't trust these five people, then my life wasn't worth living._

"_Your head hurt?" Fang asked with quiet alertness._

00

_Ari leaned down and whispered, "You're so pretty when you're sleeping-- and your mouth is shut. But what a shame to cut your hair."_

"_When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it," I spat, struggling against his boot._

_He laughed, then reached down and stroked my face with once claw. "I like 'em feisty."_

"_Get off her!" Fang launched himself at Ari, taking him by surprise. Ari outweighed Fang by a hundred pounds, but Fang was coldly furious and out for blood. He was scary when he was like that._

00

_Quickly I glanced up but saw only the yucky yellow-tiled arch covered with mold-- no glass ceiling. Fang was still holding my arm, looking at me intently._

_I gave him an embarrassed smile. "You must be so sick of looking at me with concern."_

"_It is getting stale," he said. "What happened? This time, I mean."_

"_I don't even want to explain," I said, wiping clammy sweat off my forehead. "You'd have me committed to a madhouse."_

00

**If you enjoyed this, School's Out Forever will be up soon-- my copy is currently with my cousin, three hours away, so I'll have to put it on hold at the library before I can start writing down page numbers and stuff. Anyway, REVIEW, tell me what you think of this idea, what you think about Fang's character in The Angel Experiment, how you think he felt towards Max in that book, blah, blah, blah. You can say whatever you want, I just really, really want everybody else's input! Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	2. School's Out Forever: Comforting Fang

**This chapter was actually originally called Protective Fang, but then I couldn't think of what to call the first one, so I used examples of protectiveness for that one and decided on something else for this one.**

**Hopefully nobody is confused by the second excerpt. There was a huge chunk taken out. I'm not really sure that's a good excerpt for this, but I've included it anyway. Oh, and be sure to read what I have to say about said excerpt at the end of this chapter. **

**Again-- major spoilers, because this stuff is straight out of School's Out-- Forever. Don't read if you haven't read that book!**

**Disclaimer: Same as the last chapter. These are all excerpts from Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever, and I'm using them to analyze a character.**

**Maximum Ride: School's Out-- Forever**

**Comforting Fang**

_A little tap on my door made me jump, every muscle bunched with fear. It had to be Iggy. "I'm out of the bathroom," I called, hearing my voice shake a little._

"_Yeah," Fang said. "I can tell, 'cause your voice is coming from in there."_

"_What do you want?"_

"_Can I come in?"_

"_No!"_

_So of course the door opened. Fang leaned in the doorway. He saw how I looked, pale and big-eyed and freaked. Compulsively I touched my face, looked down at my hands. Still covered with plain skin._

_One of his dark eyebrows rose, and he came in and closed the door. "What's going on?" he asked._

"_I don't know," I whispered. "Something's wrong with me, but I don't know what."_

_Fang waited for a moment, then sat next to me on the bed and put his arm gently across my shoulders. I was all huddled up, damp in my towel, feeling miserable and more scared than I'd been in-- days._

"_You'll be okay," he said._

"_How do _you_ know?"_

"_Because I know everything, as I keep reminding you."_

_I was too miserable to smile._

"_Look," he said. "Whatever this is, we'll deal with it. We always have before."_

_I swallowed. I was dying to tell him about Eraser Max but was too afraid and ashamed._

"_Fang-- if I'm chaning, if I'm turning into something… bad-- will you deal with it?"_

_He was silent, his eyes on me._

_I took a deep breath. "If I turn into an Eraser," I said more strongly, "will you deal with it? To protect the others?"_

_Our eyes met for a long time. He knew what I was asking him. If I turned into an Eraser, it would be his job to kill me._

_He looked down at his feet, then up at me. "Yes. I'll do what has to be done."_

_I breathed out in relief. "Thank you," I said quietly._

_Fang stood up and squeezed my shoulder. "You'll be okay," he said again. He leaned down and quickly kissed my forehead. "I promise."_

_Then he was gone, and I was more confused than ever._

00

"_She's taking my place," I said without meaning to._

_Fang shrugged. "You're a fighter, not a mom."_

_I almost gasped, stung. "I can't be both? You think I'm a lousy mom? What, because I'm not girly enough, is that it?"…_

"…_you've been a great mom. But you're only fourteen and you shouldn't have to be a mom. Give yourself ten years or so."_

00

"_I bet you looked kind of Pekingesey," Fang said finally. _

_I snapped my head up to look at him. He seemed very calm, very normal, despite what I'd just told him. "What?"_

"_Bet you were kind of cute, pup girl." He bared his teeth as if they were fangs and made a little growling sound. "Rrrff!" he said, and made a pouncing motion at me._

_I smacked him upside the head. He dodged to one side, laughing, but I jumped to my feet, angry. He held his hands up in surrender and with difficulty stopped laughing._

"_Look," said Fang, trying to keep a straight face. "I know you're not an Eraser. I don't know why you saw that in the mirror, and I don't know who the other Max is, but I know who you are, all the way through. And you're not an Eraser. And even if I saw you as an Eraser, I would still recognize you. I know you're not evil, no matter what you might look like."_

_I thought of the Voice telling me to believe what I knew rather than what I saw, and tears started to my eyes. I sank back down onto the bed, just wanting to go to sleep and not think about anything._

"_Thanks," I told Fang in a broken voice._

_He stood up, then smoothed my hair with his hand. "You're fine," he said quietly._

"_Don't you dare put any of this in your blog," I warned him. "Don't even think about it for a millisecond."_

"_Don't flatter yourself," he said, and left my room. _

00

_I didn't even have the strength to run off and hide. I just knelt in the sand, my hands over my face. My cut hurt like hell._

_Then strong arms were around me, a gentle hand was pressing me into a wiry, rock-hard shoulder. Fang. I pulled my wings in, leaned against him, and sobbed. Soon I felt other, tentative hands patting my back, stroking my hair. Someone said, "Shh, shh." Nudge._

"_It's okay, Max," Iggy said, sounding shaken. "Everything's okay."_

_Nothing in our world was okay. Except that we had one another. I nodded into Fang's shoulder._

_I don't know how long this touching scene rolled on, but eventually my sobs gave way to shuddering breaths, and finally I was spent. Fang's shirt was soaked._

_I was _so_ embarrassed. I was the leader, and here I was breaking down like a baby. How could I boss them around if I was so weak? I sniffled and sat back, knowing I must look like a train wreck. Fang let me go, not saying anything. Slowly I raised my eyes, turning slightly to see the flock. I was way too embarrassed to look at Fang._

00

"_So what was that about?" Fang said finally._

_I couldn't pretend to not know what he was talking about. "I'm just-- really tired. The Voice was ragging on me about my destiny and how I have to get on the stick about saving the world. It just feels like too much sometimes." I never would have admitted that to the others. Sure, I could tell them that things were getting to me, but let them know I wasn't sure I could handle it? No way._

"_I've been running on adrenaline, without a master plan. Every day it's just, keep the flock safe, keep us together. But now everything else has been dumped on me, all these bits and pieces that aren't adding up to a whole picture, and it's too much."_

"_Pieces like Ari and Jeb and Anne and the Voice?"_

"_Yeah. Everything. Everything that's happened to us since we left home. I don't know what to do, and it's so freaking hard even pretending I do."_

"_Walk away from it," Fang said. "Let's find an island. Drop off the screen."_

"_That sounds really good," I said slowly. "But we'd have to get the others on board. I'm pretty sure the younger kids still really want to find their parents. And now I want to find out what this company is that Angel heard about. What if-- you do research on an island possibility and I'll focus on this other stuff?" It was the closest I'd ever come to sharing my role as leader. Actually, it didn't feel so bad._

"_Yeah, cool," Fang said._

00

**I know I said it would be a few days before I could get this up, because I had to put SOF on hold and wait for it to come in at the library, but today I went ahead and checked online where the copies were and saw one was sitting on the shelf. So I ran up to the library and got the book and canceled my hold and felt really proud of myself.**

**Guess what else was on that shelf that I need, for the next chapter, which is also on hold? **

**Yep. And I don't know if my mom will want to take me to the library twice in one day. So that one might end up taking a few days. Or it could be up tomorrow. Depends on what goes down.**

**The good news is that I have my own copies of The Final Warning and MAX so I won't have to mess with the library where those are involved. Yay!**

**Yeah, anyway. My question about that second excerpt: was I the only one who felt like Fang was saying a **_**lot**_** more than it appears at first glance? Like, um, he plans to be there when Max has her own kids in "ten years or so"? **

**So REVIEW, tell me what you think about that, tell me what you think about their relationship in SOF, ask why I chose these excerpts, blah blah blah. I really do want to hear what you guys think about this. Fang's character and Max's character and how they fit together to create Fax fascinates me much more than it probably should.**

**By the way-- the library's copy of SOF does not have the HOT picture of Fang on it that my own copy does. : D**


	3. Saving the World: Sappy Fang

**Guys, I'm going to be writing like MAD today because I am so happy with the number of favorites, alerts, and reviews for various stories I had waiting in my inbox this morning! I'll at least do this and Sick Days, and because of several requests, I'm considering extending Messing with Max 2, but that might take a few days. **

**Thanks for everything, keep up the reviewing!!**

**Boy, it was quite an ordeal, getting my hands on a copy of this book. But I did it. And then it took me forever to write down the page numbers, because Fang is even sappier in this book than I thought! Anyway… here we go:**

**Disclaimer: Same as the last two chapters! This is a compilation of excerpts, all of which belong to James Patterson and not me.**

**Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports**

**Sappy Fang**

_Then my throat felt tight, and I rubbed my fists against my eyes. I dropped my face onto my arms, crossed over my knees. This sucked! I wanted to be back with the oth--_

_Fang's hand gently smoothed my hair off my neck. My breath froze in my chest, and every sense seemed hyper-alert. His hand stroked my hair again, so softly, and then trailed across my neck and shoulder and down my back, making me shiver._

_I looked up. "What the heck are you _doing?"

"_Helping you change your mind," he whispered, and then he leaned over, tilted my chin up, and kissed me…._

_It seemed like an hour before we broke apart. We were both breathing raggedly, and I stared into his eyes as if I would find answers there._

_Which of course I didn't. All I saw was the dancing flames of our small fire._

_Fang cleared his throat, looking as surprised as I felt. "Forget the mission," he said, his voice barely audible. "Let's just all be safe somewhere together."_

00

_He didn't want to check his blog-- he'd had almost eight hundred thousand hits earlier-- didn't want to do anything except lie still and think._

_Max._

_God, but she was stubborn. And tough. And closed in. Closed off. Except when she was holding Angel, or ruffling the Gasman's hair, or pushing something closer to Iggy's hand so he could find it easily without knowing anyone had helped him. Or when she was trying to untangle Nudge's mane of hair. Or-- sometimes-- when she was looking at Fang._

_He shifted on the hard ground, a half-dozen flashes of memory cycling through his brain. Max looking at him and laughing. Max leaping off a cliff, snapped out her wings, flying off, so incredibly powerful and graceful that it took his breath away. _

_Max punching someone's lights out, her face like stone._

_Max kissing that weiner Sam on Anne's front porch._

_Gritting his teeth, Fang rolled onto his side._

_Max kissing him on the beach, after Ari had kicked Fang's butt._

_Just now, her mouth soft under his._

_He wished she were here, if not next to him, then somewhere in the cave, so he could hear her breathing._

_It was going to be hard to sleep without that tonight._

00

"_Max." He waited till I looked at him again. "The one we have is each other. The one thing we can depend on, no matter what. We have to… talk about stuff."_

00

"_I think I would like a La-Z-Boy," I mused, letting my eyes drift shut again. "Fang, don't go anywhere."_

"_I won't. I'm here."_

"_Okay. I need you here. Don't leave me."_

"_I won't."_

00

"_What I said yesterday didn't mean anything!" I hissed. "I love _everyone_ in the flock! Plus, it was the Valium talking!"_

_An unbearable smug look came over his usually impassive face. "Uh-huh. You just keep telling yourself that. You looove me."_

_I look a swing at him, but he jumped back nimbly, and all I did was jar my left arm, making it hurt._

_He laughed at me, then pointed at the woods outside the window. "Pick a tree. I'll go carve our initials in it."_

00

_Flying west without Max was like flying with one wing missing, Fang thought. He kept seeing her face, furious, confused, and even though she would never admit it, scared. He'd seen that face just about every day of his entire life. He'd seen it filthy with caked-on dirt, bruised and bloodied, snarling, laughing, sleeping, telling complicated lies with total sincerity… looking down at him with that light in her eyes, that communication between them…_

00

_Fang would have followed Max to the end of the world, wherever and whenever that was. If she'd dropped into the cone of an active volcano, he would have backed her up, no matter what._

00

_He ignored the way his heart thumped when he thought about seeing her-- them-- again. If she still had the cretin with her, he was going to be pissed. But cretin or no, splitting up the flock was wrong. If the world was coming to an end, they needed to be together._

00

"_You will die today," several Flyboys promised in their weird metallic voices. "We are here to kill you and the others. Max and the rest of your flock are already dead. Now it is your turn."_

_Fang felt a cold jolt, then dismissed it. Max wasn't dead. He would _know_, somehow. He would have felt it. The world still felt the same to him; therefore, Max was still in it._

00

"_You're late."_

_Fang stepped out of the shadows, eating an apple. He was dressed in black, as usual, and his face looked like a lumpy plum pie. But his eyes shone as he came toward me, and then I was running to him over the sand, my wings out in back of me._

_We smashed together awkwardly, with Fang standing stiffly for a moment, but then his arms slowly came around me, and he hugged me back. I held him tight, trying to swallow the lump of cotton in my throat, my head on his shoulder, my eyes squeezed shut._

"_Don't ever leave me again," I said in a tiny voice._

"_I won't," he promised into my hair, sounding most un-Fang-like. "I won't. Not ever."_


	4. The Final Warning: Flirty Fang

**Second to last chapter! No! I like doing these; they're easy, fun, they allow me to do the psychoanalysis that I love so much, and I get to hear what you guys have to say! Yeah, anyway, here's Fang's Mood for the book we all hate!**

**As always, major spoilers, because everything is taken right from the book.**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson owns everything below, I'm just using it for said psychoanalysis.**

**Maximum Ride: The Final Warning**

**Flirty Fang**

"_Anything going on out there?" I asked._

_He flicked a glance at me, shook his head, then took a longer look. "What happened to your tan?"_

"_It was dirt."_

_He grinned, one of his rare grins that make the world spin a little faster. As if he didn't know what he was doing, he reached out and touched my hair where it lay on my shoulders. "You look…like a girl." His voice held bemusement._

"_There's a reason for that," I said seriously._

"_No, I mean like a real--" He seemed to catch himself, shook his head, and looked back out the window._

00

"_This is pretty." My feet dangled at least a yard above the water._

"_Yeah. Peaceful." Fang was looking everywhere except me. "Are we back on track?"_

_I looked at him. "What do you mean? What track?" "You and me. We…broke up."_

_Oh, that. I gazed at the water, embarrassed._

"_I don't want to split up again," he said._

"_No, me neither."_

"_Max…"_

_His face was unreadable in the moonlight. I felt the light, feathery heat of his wing lying over mine. What did he want from me? Why couldn't he just let things be?_

"_What do you want from me?" he said._

"_What do I-- What do you mean? I want the usual stuff, like always." I _hated _conversations like this, _hated_ talking about my feelings unless I was, like, furious. Then words came easily. But this mushy heart-and-flowers stuff? Ugh._

_His eyes met mine. "Look, you didn't like it when you saw me with the girl at school, back in Virginia."_

_True. Seeing Fang kissing the Red-Haired Wonder had sent acid churning through my gut. I stayed silent, remembering._

"_And I wasn't thrilled about you and Sam, the possible traitor, also back in Virginia."_

"_Yeah, Virginia basically sucked," I agreed._

"_Well, why? Why would it bother us to see us with other people?"_

_Oh, God, where was he going with this? If I had more than brother-sister feelings for Fang, I could barely admit them to myself, much less him._

"'_Cause we're shallow and self-serving?" I tried, wishing he would just drop it._

_He rolled his eyes and took my hand. His hand was hard and calloused, tough with muscle and old scars. The night settled around us like a blanket. I could hear the water lapping against the dock. We were totally alone._

"_You're…" he began, and I waited, my heart throbbing in my throat. "Such a _pain_," he concluded._

"What?" _I asked, just as his head swooped in and his mouth touched mine. I tried to speak, but one of Fang's hands held the back of my head, and he kept his lips pressed against me, kissing me softly but with a Fanglike determination._

Oh, jeez_, I thought distractedly. _Jeez, this is Fang, and me, and_… Fang tilted his head to kiss me more deeply, and I felt totally lightheaded. Then I remembered to breathe through my nose, and the fog cleared a tiny bit. Somehow we were pressed together, Fang's arms around me now, sliding under my wings, his hands flat against my back._

_It was incredible. I loved it. I loved him._

_It was a total disaster._

_Gasping, I pulled back. "I, uh--" I began oh so coherently, and then I jumped up, almost knocking him over, and raced down the dock. I took off, flying fast, like a rocket._

00

_Let me tell you, it was _cozy_ in the tiny galley, which was so small that Fang had to totally squeeze in next to Brigid on the bench. Just too freaking cozy for words._

_Beneath Gazzy and Nudge's excited chatter, I could follow the low undercurrent of Fang and Brigid playing the get-to-know-you game._

"_You're young to be a doctor," he said, helping himself to a fourth sandwich. _

"_I'm twenty-one," Brigid admitted. "Sort of whizzed through MIT, then got my doctorate at the U of Arizona." She paused, thinking. "In a way, I understand what it feels like to stick out, to be different from everyone else. I finished high school when I was twelve." She gave a self-conscious laugh. "People called me a freak. Even my parents didn't know what to do with me."_

"_That must have been rough," Fang said sympathetically, while my eyes widened…._

"_How old are _you?" _Brigid asked Fang._

_I almost gagged on my potato chip._

"_Fourteen. I think," Fang said. "None of us are real sure of our birth dates. But we think Max, Iggy, and I are around fourteen."_

"_You seem older," Brigid murmured, and I shot to my feet, unable to bear this a second longer._

00

_I had just started down the narrow, steeply pitched steps when I realized Fang was waiting for me at the bottom._

"_What the matter with you?" he asked. "Why'd you take off like that?"_

_Oh, like I would tell _him.

"_Wanted some air," I said, trying to brush past him. But he took my arms to hold me in place, and because I didn't feel like having this escalate into a knockdown fistfight, I let him._

"_Tell me what's going on," he said again, his face very close to mine._

"_Nothing." I'm nothing if not stubborn._

"_Max, if you would just talk to me--"_

"_About _what? _You and me? There _is _no you and me. Especially when you keep throwing yourself at everything in a skirt!" Okay, now, that was so, so stupid. Fang's eyes widened-- I'd given far too much away. Plus, Brigid Dwyer wasn't wearing a skirt._

_I wrenched my arms away from him, feeling as if my cheeks were on fire. I was confused and miserable-- two of my least favorite things._

"_You're wrong, Max," he said in a low, dark tone that made butterflies in my stomach. "There's a you and me, all right. There will always be a you and me."_

_I pushed past him, hard, and tried not to run for the room Nudge, Angel and I were sharing._

00

_You are reading Fang's blog. Welcome!_

_You are visitor number: 723, 989_

…_Right now we're working with a bunch of scientists that rock the house. One of them is only a little older than me, and not at all geekified. I have to say, a chick who's super smart and super brave, dedicated to her work, wanting to help people, save the world-- well, there's nothing hotter than that._

00

"_Fang…alator?" I snickered._

_Fang shot me a glance, then continued unlacing his polar boots. I couldn't believe he'd written a whole blog about Dr. Amazing and Her Quest to Save the World. I mean, excuse me, but who's been saving the world for the past several months? That would be _me_. Do I get a blog entry? No. Who beat the Omega blockhead, back in Germany? Dr. Amazing? No._

"_You're just mad because I wrote about Brigid," he said, tugging off a boot, and I pulled back, stung._

"_I am not! I don't even read your blog! You can write about whoever you want!"_

_Fang looked at me. "You can't have it both ways, Max," he said. "You blow me off every chance you get, but then you get mad if I talk to someone else."_

"_I do n--," I began hotly, but then realized that was exactly what I did. My face flushed, and I shut my mouth. I didn't even know what we were fighting about._

"_You sat that like it's a bad thing," I blustered, but Fang didn't crack a smile._

"_I said that we would never split up again," Fang said, and my heart leaped in panic. "And I meant it. We have to keep the flock together to survive. But you might want to think about cutting me a break now and then."_

_He gave me a last, long look that I could hardly stand, afraid of what I might see in it._

00

"_I'm gonna barf," I whispered to Fang, wiping my sweaty hands on my jeans._

"_You'll be fine," he whispered back. "You always are."_

"_I'm gonna die," I moaned._

"_You can't die," he said, a hint of a smile in his voice. "You're the indestructible Max."_

**The family arrived in the middle of this, and I had to get up and let them in and make small talk and then come back to this. But I am done now! The family will still be here for a couple days, and MAX is a lot to type, anyway, so that might be a while. Review with the same stuff as before!! **


	5. MAX: Romantic Fang

**Alright, it took me a while to get this finished, but here it is, finally! Sorry about that. Guess I just got distracted. I decided to do this tonight because I'm experiencing slight writer's block with Sick Days. I don't think it'll last long, though, if you're someone who likes to read that story. : )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything below; this is a compilation of excerpts used for analysis purposes only. These excerpts all belong to James Patterson.**

"_Max," said Angel. "You know Fang is the best guy ever. And he loves you. 'Cause you're the best girl ever."_

_With anyone else, I could ask them how they knew that and then discredit them. Not Angel. She knew because she'd seen it, in his mind._

"_We all love each other, Ange," I said impatiently, hating this whole conversation._

"_No, not like this," she went on relentlessly. "Fang loves you."_

00

"_I choose _you_," he said very softly, "_Max_."_

_Then his hard, rough hand tenderly cupped my chin, and suddenly his mouth was on mine, and every synapse in my brain shorted out._

_We had kissed a couple of times before, but this was different. This time, I squelched my immediate, overwhelming desire to run away screaming. I closed my eyes and put my arms around him despite my fear. Then somehow we slid sideways so we were lying in the cool sand. I was holding him fiercely, and he was kissing me fiercely, and it was… just so, so intensely _good_. Once I got past my usual, gut-wrenching terror, there was a long, sweet slide into mindlessness, when all I felt was Fang, and all I heard was his breathing, and all I could think was, "Oh, God, I want to do this _all the time_."_

_Gradually, our kisses became less hungry and more comforting. Our arms relaxed as we held each other in the cool desert air. Our breathing calmed, and my thoughts began to sort of connect to each other again in comprehensible chunks. I started my inevitable hysterical freak-out, but I tried to do it very quietly inside my head, because this had been so special, and I didn't want to ruin it. Like I usually did._

_I slanted my gaze up to him, and Fang was… smiling. He was lying on his back, holding me against him, and he was looking up at the night sky, with the katrillion stars that you see only when you're in the middle of nowhere. Then you see stars that you never even knew existed. He was smiling, and his face looked softer and less closed._

00

_Me and Fang. Holding hands and eating ice cream._

_And the flock was safe on a giant naval base where you couldn't even spit without hitting an antiaircraft missile._

_If life got better than this, I didn't think I could take it…._

_And the beautiful part? He'd turned down Dr. Stupendous to be with _moi_. He'd dissed her and dismissed her, so he could eat kimchi and ice cream with yours featherly._

"_Max?"_

_I suddenly became aware that Fang had said my name like three times. Now he stopped and looked at me. "Are you okay? Is the Voice back, giving you instructions?"_

"_Uh-huh. It's in the middle of the crossword of the day."_

_He smiled, and we kept walking._

"_No, I was just spacing out," I said, licking my ice cream. I had gotten a double scoop of mint chocolate chip and orange sherbet, two great tastes that tasted great together._

"_Well, tomorrow we leap into action," he said. "So, last chance to space out for a while."_

"_Yeah. I just hope--"_

"_I know. I'm sure she's okay. We'll get there in time. And I promise to let you take her kidnappers apart all by yourself."_

_He knew me so well. "Thanks. It's just-- it's bad enough to worry about the flock. Is Nudge okay, is everyone here, are we together, are we safe? I can't stand the circle getting bigger. I can only worry about so much before my head explodes, you know?"_

_He nodded. "You know I got your back. You're not alone."…_

_Fang dropped my hand to put his arm around my shoulders, his warmth searing my skin through my jacket. I really, really hoped that I hadn't suddenly sprouted a catrillion new nerve endings. Yes, it would make moments like this better, but the downside? Pain and torture would be a million times worse. Guess which one I was more likely to come up against?…_

"_Max." Fang put two fingers under my chin-- I hoped it wasn't sticky but wasn't sure-- and gently turned me to face him. "You're a million miles away again."_

"_Sorry." Once more I cursed Jeb for not grafting the gift of gab into my DNA. Jerk._

"_Are you too worried about your mom? Do you want to head back?"_

"_No," I said, meeting his gaze. "No. I'm okay. Just-- kind of overwhelmed." I gave a little cough. "I don't want to go back. I want to be here with you."_

_Something lit in his black eyes. "Yeah?"_

_I nodded._

"_So… you're choosing me?"…_

_I had to grip the metal railing hard with both hands so I wouldn't throw myself over it, to streak away into the night, into darkness and safety. _Tough it out, Max_, I told myself-- or maybe it was the Voice._

_But it didn't matter, because then Fang leaned down and kissed me, and I put my arms around him, right there in front of everyone, and kissed him back with everything I had._

00

_I glared at him. "Go on. Try to stop me. I dare you." It was like the old days when we used to wrestle, each trying to get the better of the other. I was ready to take him down, my hands curled into fists._

"_I was just going to say be careful," Fang told me. He stepped closer and brushed some hair out of my eyes. "And-- I've got your back." He motioned with his head toward the torpedo chamber…._

_Right there, in front of everyone, I threw my arms around his neck and smashed my mouth against his. He was startled for a second, then his strong arms wrapped around me so tightly I could hardly breathe._

"_ZOMG," I heard Nudge whisper, but still Fang and I kissed, slanting our heads this way and that to get closer. I could have stood there and kissed him happily for the next millennium, but Angel-- or what was left of her-- was still out there in the cold, dark ocean._

_Reluctantly, I ended the kiss, took a step back. Fang's obsidian eyes were glittering brightly, and his stoic face had a look of wonder on it._

"_Gotta go," I said quietly._

_A half smile quirked his mouth. "Yeah. Hurry back."_

00

_No one protested or tried to stop us this time. Fang looked at me, hope in his eyes, and I smirked at him. I save the huge emotional kissy-face for imminent death scenes. This probably didn't qualify._

00

_The wind swept through my hair, and I closed my eyes, coasting on a thermal current, feeling the sun warming my face and my feathers._

_Fang was above me, moving his wingers in perfect unison with mine. We were holding hands: his was reaching down, and mine was reaching up…._

"_I'm glad Mom and Ella are home again safe. And I guess Jeb is-- somewhere else." I didn't know whether Jeb was evil or not. He was totally confusing. Maybe I would never know._

"_And I hear Total's off planning his and Akila's upcoming wedding," Fang added with a slight grin. "Guess what? You're maid of honor. Can't wait to see you in a poufy dress."_

_I ignored the jab. "Here's a more interesting piece of information: Brigid's at a news conference," I said. "I confronted her after I spotted her earlier. She said she was going to expose Mr. Chu."_

"_We'll see," said Fang, sounding somewhat disinterested, to my surprise and delight. "I guess we're finally alone"-- a tiny smile curved his lips-- "for the immediate future."_

"_Huh," I said, my heart kicking into high gear. "Huh. That's… nice."_

_Very, very carefully, Fang lowered himself even closer to me. I could almost feel his breath in my ear. We'd never flown this close before. A delicate electric quiver ran down my spine…._

"_Max." Fang let go of my hand. "Right now, it's really all about-- _us_."_

_He swooped down to the right in a big semicircle, ending facing me. Slowly we climbed upward, until we were almost vertical, flying straight up to the sun._

_While carefully synchronizing our wings-- they almost touched-- Fang leaned in, gently put one hand behind my neck, and kissed me. It was just about as close to heaven as I'll ever get, I guess. I closed my eyes, lost in the feeling of flying and kissing and being with the one person in the world I completely, utterly trusted._

**And… that's a wrap!**

**I loved doing these, and I'm sad that it's over. But in March I'm sure I'll be doing one for FANG. Until then, I'll mark this as 'complete'. Thanks for reading, and go check out Sick Days if you haven't already! And review, please, tell me your opinions on all this stuff.**

**: )**


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